Choose
by Fueled By Dr. Pepper
Summary: AU! Basically, after watching The Girl Who Waited about 3 billion times, this came out. So, warning: SPOILERS FOR THE GIRL WHO WAITED.  I'd recommend watching that first since it won't make sense if you haven't seen it.  Kurtofsky. 11!Blaine. Words: 973


"You have to choose."

The tears squished between the rough cheek of Dave's face and the smooth panel of the TARDIS's door.

"I can't."

Fingers pressed on the lock so tightly he could feel the throb of his pulse there; he shook his head.

"I can't choose, you or him, it's still leaving someone behind."

"You have to," the low crooning voice was so painfully smooth from the other side, "you have to choose or I'll be fighting with myself to the very end and you'll lose us both."

Dave could see him through the vivid mental image his mind invoked. The fine lines that had become a new frame for his face, the touches of color that had blossomed in his cheeks, and judging by slightest crack to the last words he spoke there was a sheen of moisture in his eyes. Not enough to rim his lashes as tears but enough to gloss over and seemingly brighten his irises.

He hadn't been expecting the matured face to be the one meeting him outside of the TARDIS earlier. But at this exact moment, he couldn't bear the thought of erasing it from existence.

The TARDIS doors opened and Dave stepped out, with glasses on and viewing glass in hand. Blank like the sterile areas, it had pieces of art displayed.

"Where is everyone?"

The Doctor's voice came through the glasses, as he worked in the TARDIS, "I can't be sure. But it looks like their art gallery – they do love a variety of alien cultures, taking souvenirs from each one they come across. Turn on the time glass, I need to get a lock on Kurt."

Dave walked past a few of them, "Bit of human, bit of alien, bit of . . . everything."

"Try crossing the filters, hold up the glass."

Dave held it up. Through the glass, the blurred mess of shapes ran across it, overlapping.

"Thousands of time streams overlapping. Living out their lives. It's not one stream, no, they each get their own."

"Do you think they're happy?"

There was a small chuckle.

"You would be concerned with that. They're living, David. Not dying."

Dave lowered the glass, leaving one figure, sword raised into his face.

"Whoa, wait, we come in peace!"

He fell to the ground in surprise, the other's weapon following without a thought.

Dave took a second look. It wasn't another robot. It couldn't be, the armor was patchy like it had been pieced together. There were several other materials to it. And if it were a different version, the jaunty movements had been replaced by a fluid elegance. The hands, which Dave had been told saw and scanned instead of touched, were different. They didn't have that same grown skin than was shaped to make hands that resembled Dave's own. They were smooth and supple. Like they had always been.

"Kurt?"

From behind the mask, a voice disguised came out, "I waited."

"What?"

Kurt lifted the mask, revealing an aged face.

"You told me to wait and I did."

The wrinkles and tan and dulling of his hair weren't much to Dave, Kurt looked as great to him as he ever did, it was the eyes that seemed to hit Dave like a truck. They seemed so stark and passive. So much like the fear and anger that had clouded his eyes back in school but much more different, resigned in a way that didn't match Kurt's fiery determination.

Dave had left to let Kurt talk to the version of him that existed on the other side of the time glass.

"Why am I still here?"

Kurt winced; a habit he had formed in the 30+ years he had been isolated, "I refused to help. I won't bring you to now."

The person still young looked closer, "But why?"

Kurt's head moved up in a manner of resilient pride, "Because. Dave and the Doctor got in the big blue box and left me here. I waited, just like he asked. 36 years of waiting. And bringing you here would erase that. Erase me. Erase what the Doctor did."

"What about Dave?"

Kurt flinched again.

"What about him?"

The young man focused in on the person he was speaking to, "He came for you. He wants to save you. Call it a dumb mistake that the Doctor got him there late if you want but it's not his fault."

Kurt glanced where Dave had left before looking back.

"Do you remember being in school with him?"

The older man laughed like he had heard an old joke for the first time in a while, "I do. The good and the bad."

"Remember the change he made? That shift from some façade to the real Dave? His first apology, in that hallway outside French."

Kurt nodded, "He was so sorry for everything he did. Honestly, too."

"He paid the price for his sins. Don't make him pay for the Doctor's."

"I love you."

There was a sniffle. Barely audible but there.

"I love you too. Always have. Always will."

Dave didn't move but he had made his choice.

"Kurt – "

Kurt cut him off, "Tell you what. I'm gonna go up to this 'bot and touch his hand. I'll be asleep just like your Kurt is. Whether you drag me in or leave, I won't know. Okay? Don't – don't say it."

Dave nodded. Kurt sensed it, so he went on.

"But promise me one thing. No matter who you choose – don't let me get laugh lines."

Dave let out a mirthless laugh.

"You'd look absolutely gorgeous anyways. Always have. Always will."

Kurt's voice was small and high, like it had been ages ago, "Promise me."

"I promise."

Once he heard the thump, Dave turned the lock. The Doctor pulled the lever and they were gone.


End file.
